北约组织一直保持巨额军费开支以与华约各国抗衡。从1949年该组织成立之日起到1988年止,北约各国军费开支总和为5.5万亿美元。仅仅以过去10年为例,就增加了一倍,1988年达4547亿美元。到1989年初,欧洲参约国的军费开支达l590亿美元,其中英国、联邦德国、法国和意大利4个欧洲主要国家占85％。 NATO has been maintaining huge military spending in order to contend with the nations of the Warsaw Pact. From the date of the founding of the organization in 1949 to 1988, the sum of military expenditures by NATO countries amounts to 5.5 trillion U.S. dollars. In the last 10 years, for example, it doubled, reaching 454.7 billion U.S. dollars in 1988. By the beginning of 1989, the expenditures of military expenditures of the European countries were 195 billion U.S. dollars, of which 85% were from the four major European countries including the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, France and Italy.